Is it a basketball game if no one keeps score? I remember coaching our church’s basketball
team for children. It was a mixed team
with girls and boys including my son, all under 9 years old. When we played our first game I learned that
we weren’t going to keep score.
Someone
had decided that it wasn’t “Christian” to be that competitive. Most of us dads found that not keeping score
just didn’t create the excitement or enthusiasm that a soccer, football or
basketball game typically generated.
Fortunately there were plenty of Capri Sun drinks to keep the enthusiasm up. One of the advantages of not keeping score was that we didn’t
need a ‘mercy’ rule, which mercifully often ended some of my games back when I
was only nine.
Some of that thinking that Christians shouldn’t keep score
has limited the churches ability to measure spiritual growth. Spiritual growth however should be a primary
objective of our churches and without some measuring rod, some metric that can be
employed, how do we know if we are effective?
Metrics are used in churches to keep track of things like
attendance and giving. Churches even keep
track of more spiritual matters like Baptisms and commitments to Christ. We know however that these activities don’t
necessarily equate to true spiritual growth. Activity and attendance doesn’t
necessarily parallel a change in the heart or the development of
Christ-likeness.
Some significant attempts at spiritual measurements have
been interesting and well documented.
Willow Creek conducted their ‘Reveal’ study in 2004 that analyzed over
6,000 extensive attendee surveys. They
reached out to hundreds of people that had left Willow Creek the previous
years. Then in 2007 an additional 5,000
surveys were completed.
Willow Creek invested a considerable amount of money to
conduct a very comprehensive and well-documented measurement of spiritual
growth and satisfaction at their churches.
One of the preliminary and primary finding was that Involvement in church
activities does not predict or drive long-term spiritual growth.[1]
If we take
the findings of the Willow’s Reveal study as a starting point and apply some
standard statistical probability analysis methodology I believe we have the
opportunity to create a measurement tool that can give us some highly
significant metrics. One of the first
hurdles that we have to address is that measurement and metrics are
about identifying both positive and negative trends. They are not designed to
measure absolutes. In addition, a
metric is only meaningful when used in comparisons and over time. An individual score or metric is meaningless
without a comparison.
For example, a quality rating for a hotel or a restaurant of
5 stars may be better than one with 4 stars but does not guarantee that the 5
star is perfect nor that the difference between the five star and four star is
observable.
Hotel and motel four and five star ratings are based on
things like hospitality, cleanliness, amenities, lobby hours and how long the
concierge or room service may be available.
Churches need to find other classifications and qualities to
measure. Willow’s reveal study said that
activity and attendance isn’t an appropriate “stand-alone’ measure so what
should we use?
The Apostle Paul talks about measuring Spiritual growth in
the 5th Chapter of Galatians.
He juxtaposes the acts of the flesh in 5:19-21 (sexual immorality,
impurity and debauchery, idolatry and witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy,
fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, envy drunkenness, and
orgies) with the fruit of the Spirit in 5:22&23 (love, joy, peace,
forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control).
Rather than measure attendance or even more subjective
things like satisfaction with the church, the services, music or pastor, why wouldn’t
churches measure what actually matters?
Do we really want to measure whether people are ‘happy’ with
the sermons, the music or the pastor? The
apostle Paul also said that “Godliness with Contentment is great gain,” (1 Tim
6:6) but from my perspective, contentment without godliness is just spiritual apathy
or complacency.
In a statistically conducted survey there are some factors
that determine whether the results of a survey are reliable. If they are reliable, that means that the
results of the survey are adequate to be able to predict that if EVERYONE was
surveyed, the results would be similar. We
are used to hearing comments like “95% confident and “within the margin of error”
which is a reference to what is known as a confidence interval.
If churches could find a simple, easily repeatable survey
that could consistently be used to determine if people are growing spiritually
– if people were becoming more Christ-like with regards to exemplifying the
fruit of the spirit described by Paul, would that be something worthwhile? The answer is yes, absolutely, so let’s go a
little further into the methodology that should be employed.
People that work in the field of statistics know that the
questions that are used and the sample selection employed are very important in
determining the usefulness of the data and responses that are collected. A relatively few number of respondents
(i.e. as little as 322 out of a population of 2,000 ) can give you a 95% degree
of confidence of the results within + or – 5 points)
While the sample size is important but easily attainable,
the degree of randomness or ‘lack-of-bias’ in the sample selection is critical.
For example, in looking at church attendees, sampling or
surveying 2,000 people and collecting only a few hundred responses could easily
have a significant response bias. Perhaps it is the people that are most
involved or connected to the church that respond. Perhaps those that are the most apathetic or
least spiritual chose to not turn in the survey.
As a result, it is more important to use some random method
to select the survey recipients and ensure that a higher percentage of them
return their surveys. A high response
rate is essential in legitimizing a survey’s result. Typically, this is done by 1) limiting the
number of questions; 2) making it easy to complete and return the survey and 3)
providing encouragements and incentives to ensure a high response rate.
Taking Paul’s characteristics of Spiritual maturity (i.e.
the Fruit of the Spirit) and keeping the survey brief with just a few
qualitative questions a survey can be designed that would be very useful. The church should keep it easy to administer
and likely to be returned. Many studies
have shown that there is very little bias introduced when only electronic
surveys (as opposed to telephone and mail) are used since so many people now
have access via home and office computers and their hand held cellular
devices. Providing incentives including
discount coupons are excellent ways to encourage participation and adequate sampling.
Some of the questions that could be asked (five point
response scales are common) would include: Do you find joy in knowing Jesus has
a plan for your life? Do you worry or
find yourself worrying often about the future? (this being a negative response
question). Are you a person that takes
difficulties and trials in stride, knowing that the Lord can use all things for
our good? Do people think of you as being a peacemaker? Are you faithful in all things, particularly
in keeping your commitments to the Lord and your family? Are you kind and tenderhearted? Do you consider yourself to be a person of
faith?
Questions related to spiritual growth could include: Are you
engaged in daily prayer (other than mealtimes)?
Do you have an interest in fasting, refraining from certain types of foods
or pleasures for spiritual gain? Are you
a good steward of your life, deliberately managing God’s resources for His
glory? Do you read your Bible regularly?
Are you a good Christian witness, taking the opportunity to share with
others the hope that you have within you? Do you find yourself growing in faith,
becoming more Christ-like?
One individual survey result will not provide any definitive
metric that the church can use. However,
if the same survey is administered to the same demographic over a period of
time, there are likely trends that will be spotted. Since it is important that the survey
questions remain constant over a period of time to be able to compare results,
churches should be careful in selecting the limited number of questions carefully
ensuring that they are the types of qualities they want measured and worded in
a way that is clear and provides consistent responses.
Churches can and should be using metrics to determine if
they are effective in producing spiritual growth. Rising attendance and healthy finances are
possible indicators of health but quantitative surveys can produce meaningful
data that will help answer the question.
(Faith Dialogue, Inc., a nonprofit faith-based ministry in Florida has developed a Spiritual Growth Survey and can assist any church in implementing this type of measurement of spiritual growth. Contact them at www.faithdialogue.org)
[1] Greg L. Hawkins
and Cally Parkinson, Reveal: Where Are
You? (Barrington, IL: Willow Creek Resources, 2007).
